Thanks Gay and the 2 Barbs for ideas and suggestions. I'll try them today. With respect to the lint, I have read about the no-name threads being linty but what's odd is I piece on my Kenmore 117.841 (my avatar) and FMQ with my 117.740 which is essentially the same machine but the bobbin arrangement is a bit different. Using the same exact thread, I can always clean out lint at each bobbin change with the 841 but I can FMQ an entire lap quilt on the 740 and have no lint at all in the bobbin area when I'm done. It's a mystery to me. I also used to have a 1970's Kenmore which never got lint in the bobbin area. It must have something to do with the specific design of the area in the 841. No worries - I love that machine and I'm happy to keep cleaning it!